Leader Scott (Re Edited By Horace Shipp And Flora Kendrick) - "Fra Bartolommeo"

Victor Appleton - "Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders"

Israel Zangwill - "Merely Mary Ann"

William Kirby - "Le Chien d'Or"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

From Pole to Pole

S >> Sven Anders Hedin >> From Pole to Pole




The cold increased day by day, and the length of the days became
shorter. The sun still rose, described a flat arch to the south, and
sank after an hour and a half. Soon the days lasted only half an hour,
until one day they had only a glimpse of the sun's upper curve
glittering for a moment like a flashing ruby above the horizon. Next day
there was twilight at noon, but at any rate there was a reflection of
the sunset red. During the following weeks the gloominess became more
and more intense. At noon, however, there was still a perceptible light,
and the blood-red streak appeared to the south, throwing a dull purple
tinge over the ice-pack. Then this dim illumination faded away also,
and the Polar night, which at this latitude lasts sixty days and at the
North Pole itself six months, was come, and the stars sparkled like
torches on the bluish-black background even when the bell struck midday
in the officers' mess.

Those who for the first time winter in high northern latitudes find a
wonderful charm even in the Polar night. They are astonished at the deep
silence in the cold darkness, at the rushing, moaning howl of the
snowstorms, and even at the overwhelming solitude and the total absence
of life. Nothing, however, excites their astonishment and admiration so
much as the "northern lights." We know that the magnetic and electric
forces of the earth time after time envelop practically the whole globe
in a mantle of light, but this mysterious phenomenon is still
unexplained. Usually the aurora is inconstant. It flashes out suddenly,
quivers for a moment in the sky, and then grows pale and vanishes. Most
lasting are the bow-shaped northern lights, which sometimes stretch
their milk-white arches high above the horizon. It may be that only one
half of the arch is visible, rising like a pillar of light over the
field of vision. Another time the aurora takes the form of flames and
rays, red below and green above, and darting rapidly over the sky.
Farther north the light is more yellowish. If groups of rays seem to
converge to the same point, they are described as an auroral crown.
Beautiful colours change quickly in these bundles of rays, but
exceedingly seldom is the light as strong as that of the full moon. The
light is grandest when it seems to fall like unrolled curtains
vertically down, and is in undulating motion as though it fluttered in
the wind.

To the sailors in the ice-bound ships, however, the northern lights had
lost their fascination. Enfeebled and depressed, disgusted with bad
provisions, worn out with three years' hardships, they lay on their
berths listening to the ticking of their watches. The only break in
their monotonous existence was when a death occurred. The carpenter had
plenty of work, and Captain Crozier knew the funeral service by heart.
Nine officers and eleven of the crew died during the last two winters,
and certainly a far greater number in the third. This we know from a
small slip of paper well sealed up and deposited in a cairn on the
coast, which was found eleven years afterwards.

At length the months of darkness again came to an end. The red streak
appeared once more in the south, and it gradually grew lighter.
Twilight followed in the footsteps of darkness, and at last the first
sun's rays glistened above the horizon. Then the men awakened once more
to new hope; Brahmins on the bank of the Ganges never welcomed the
rising sun with more delight.

With increasing daylight came greater opportunity and disposition to
work. Several sledges were made ready, heavy and clumsy, but strong.
Three whale-boats, which for three years had hung fast frozen to the
davits, were loosened and hauled on to the ice. The best of the
provisions still remaining in the store-room were taken out, and great
piles of things were raised round the boats. When everything to be taken
was down on the ice, the stores, tents, instruments, guns, ammunition,
and all the other articles were packed on the sledges. The three
whale-boats were bound with ropes, each on a separate sledge, and a
sledge with a comfortable bed was assigned to the invalids. During all
this work the days had grown longer, and at last the men could no longer
control their eagerness to set out. This early start sealed their fate,
for neither game nor Eskimos come up so far north till the summer is
well advanced, and even with the sledges fully laden, their provisions
would last only forty days.

On April 22, 1848, the signal for departure was given, and the heavy
sledges creaked slowly and in jerks over the uneven snow-covered ice.
Axes, picks, and spades were constantly in use to break to pieces the
sharp ridges and blocks in the way. The distance to King William Land
was only 15 miles, yet it took them three days to get there. The masts
and hulls of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ grew smaller all too slowly, but
they vanished at last. Captain Crozier perceived that it was impossible
to proceed in this manner, so all the baggage was looked through again
and every unnecessary article was discarded. At this place one of the
relief expeditions found quantities of things, uniform decorations,
brass buttons, metal articles, etc., which no doubt had been thought
suitable for barter with Eskimos and Indians.

With lightened sledges, they marched on along the west coast. They had
not travelled far when John Irving, lieutenant on the _Terror_, died.
Dressed in his uniform, wrapped in sailcloth, and with a silk
handkerchief round his head, he was interred between stones set on end
and covered with a flat slab. On his head was laid a silver medal with
an inscription on the obverse side, "Second prize in Mathematics at the
Royal Naval College. Awarded to John Irving, Midsummer, 1830." Owing to
the medal the deceased officer was identified long after, and so in time
was laid to rest in his native town.

Two bays on the west coast of King William Land have been named after
the unfortunate ships. At the shore of the northern, Erebus Bay, the
strength of the English seamen was so weakened that they had to abandon
two of the boats, together with the sledges on which they had been drawn
so far uselessly. At their arrival at Terror Bay the bonds of
comradeship were no longer strong enough to keep the party together, or
it may be that they agreed to separate. They were now less than a
hundred men. At any rate, they divided into two parties, probably of
nearly equal strength. The one, which evidently consisted of the more
feeble, turned back towards the ships, where at least they would obtain
shelter against wind and weather, and where there were provisions left.
The other continued along the south coast with the whale-boat, and
intended to cross to the mainland and try to reach the Great Fish River.
No doubt, when they had been succoured themselves, they meant to return
to their distressed comrades.

Terrible must have been the march of the returning party, and terrible
also that of those who went on. Of the former we know next to nothing.
The latter marched and marched, dragging their heavy sledges after them
till they died one after another. There was no longer any thought of
burying the dead. Every one had to take care of himself. If a dying man
lagged behind, the others could not stop on his account. Some died as
they were walking: this was proved afterwards by the skeletons which
were found lying on their faces. Not a trace of game was found in May
and June on the island, and they dragged their heavy ammunition boxes
and guns to no purpose, not firing a shot.

Now the small remnant waited only for open water to cross the sound to
the mainland. At the beginning of June the ice broke up, and it may be
taken for granted that at this time the survivors actually crossed, for
the boat was afterwards found in a bay called Starvation Cove. If only
the boat had been found here, it might have been drifted over by wind
and waves; but skeletons and articles both in and outside the boat were
found, showing that it was manned when it passed over the sound and when
it landed.

Many circumstances connected with this sad journey are mysterious. Why
did the men drag the heavy whale-boat with them for two months when
they must have seen the mainland to the south the year before, on the
excursion which they undertook when the Admiral was lying on his
deathbed? Where the sound is narrowest it is only three miles broad;
and, besides, they could have crossed anywhere on the ice. But as all
died and as not a line in a diary came to light, we know nothing about
it.

When no news was heard of Franklin after two years, the first relief
expeditions were sent out. Time passed, and it became still more certain
that he was in need of help. In the autumn of 1850 fifteen ships were on
the outlook for him. The most courageous and energetic of all, who for
years would not give up hope of seeing him again, was Franklin's wife.
She spent all her means in relief work. In the course of six years the
English Government disbursed L890,000 in relief expeditions. Most of
them were useless, for when they set out the disaster had already taken
place. One expedition which sailed in 1848 was caught in the ice, and
resorted to a singular means of sending information to the distressed
men, wherever they might be. About a hundred foxes were caught and
fitted with brass collars, in which a short description of the position
of the relief ship was engraved, and then the foxes were let loose
again.

In 1854 the names of Franklin, Crozier, and all the other men were
removed from the muster roll of the Royal Navy. A statue of Franklin was
set up in his native town, and a memorial of marble was erected in
Westminster Abbey with the words of Tennyson:

Not here! the white North has thy bones; and thou
Heroic sailor-soul,
Art passing on thine happier voyage now
Toward no earthly pole.


THE VOYAGE OF THE "VEGA"

A brilliant remembrance of the Arctic Ocean is the pride of the Swedes.
The north-west passage had been discovered by Englishmen; but the
north-east passage, which for 350 years had been attempted by all
seafaring nations, was not yet achieved. By a series of voyages to
Spitzbergen, Greenland, and the Yenisei, Adolf Nordenskioeld had made
himself an experienced Polar voyager. He perfected a scheme to sail
along the north coasts of Europe and Asia and through the Behring
Strait out into the Pacific Ocean. His plan, then, was nothing less than
to circumnavigate Asia and Europe, an exploit which had never been
performed and which the learned declared to be impossible. It was
thought that the ice-pack always lay pressed up against the Siberian
coast, rendering it impossible to get past; parts had been already
sailed along and stretches of coasts were known, but to voyage all the
way to the Behring Strait was out of the question.

Now Nordenskioeld reasoned that the ice must begin to drift in summer,
and leave an open channel close to the land. The great Siberian rivers,
the Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena, bring down volumes of warm water
from southern regions into the Arctic Ocean. As this water is fresh, it
must spread itself over the heavier sea water, and must form a surface
current which keeps the ice at a distance and the passage open. Along
the ice-free coast a vessel could sail anywhere and pass out into the
Pacific Ocean before the end of summer.

Accordingly he made ready for a voyage in which the _Vega_ was to sail
round Asia and Europe and carry his name to the ends of the earth. The
_Vega_ was a whaler built to encounter drift ice in the northern seas. A
staff of scientific observers was appointed, and a crew of seventeen
Swedish men-of-war's men were selected. The _Vega_ was to be the home of
thirty men, and provisions were taken for two years. Smaller vessels
were to accompany her for part of the voyage, laden with coal.

The _Vega_ left Carlskrona in June, 1878, and steamed along the coast of
Norway, past the North Cape, towards the east. The islands of Novaia
Zemlia were left behind, the waters of the Obi and Yenisei splashed
against the hull, no drift ice opposed the passage of the Swedish
vessel, and on August 19 Cape Cheliuskin, the most northern point of the
Old World, was reached.

Farther east the coast was followed to Nordenskioeld Sea. Great caution
was necessary, for the fairway was shallow, and the _Vega_ often steamed
across bays which were represented as land on maps. The delta of the
Lena was left behind, and to the east of this only small rivers enter
the sea. Nordenskioeld therefore feared that the last bit of the voyage
would be the hardest, for open water along the coast could not be
depended upon. At the end of August the most westerly of the group
called the New Siberia Islands was sighted. The _Vega_ could not go at
full speed, for the sea was shallow, and floating fragments of ice were
in the way. The prospects became brighter again, however, open water
stretching for a long distance eastwards.

On September 6 two large skin boats appeared, full of fur-clad natives
who had rowed out from land. All the men on the _Vega_, except the cook,
hastened on deck to look at these unexpected visitors of Chukchi race.
They rushed up the companion ladder, talking and laughing, and were well
received, being given tobacco, Dutch clay pipes, old clothes, and other
presents. None of the _Vega_ men understood a word they said, but the
Chukchis chattered gaily all the same, and with their hands full of
presents tumbled down to their boats again and rowed home.

Two days later the _Vega_ was in the midst of ice and fog, and had to be
moored to a floe near land. Then came more Chukchis, who pulled the
Swedes by the collar and pointed to the skin tents on land. The
invitation was accepted with pleasure by several of the _Vega_ men, who
rowed to land and went from tent to tent. In one of them reindeer meat
was boiling in a cast-iron pot over the fire. Outside another two
reindeer were being cut up. Each tent contained an inner sleeping-room
of deerskin, which was lighted and warmed by lamps of train oil. There
played small stark-naked children, plump and chubby as little pigs, and
sometimes they ran in the same light attire out over the rime between
the tents. The tiniest were carried, well wrapped up in furs, on the
backs of their fathers and mothers, and whatever pranks they played
these small wild cats never heard a harsh word from their elders.

The next day the _Vega_ tried to continue her voyage, but the fog was
too dense, and the shelter of a mass of ground ice had again to be
sought. Nordenskioeld was, however, sure of gaining the Pacific Ocean in
a short time, and when fresh visitors came on board he distributed
tobacco and other presents among them with a lavish hand. He also
distributed a number of _krona_[21] pieces and fifty earrings which, if
any misfortune happened to the _Vega_, would serve to show her course.

During the following days the ice closed up and fog lay dense over the
sea. Only now and then could the vessel sail a short distance, and then
was stopped and had to moor again. On September 18 the vessel glided
gently and cautiously between huge blocks of grounded ice like castle
walls and towers of glass. Here patience and great care were necessary,
for the coast was unknown and there was frequently barely a span of
water beneath the keel. The captain stood on the bridge, and wherever
there was a gap between the ice-blocks he made for it. It was only
possible to sail in the daytime, and at night the _Vega_ lay fastened by
her ice anchors. One calm and fine evening some of our seafarers went
ashore and lighted an enormous bonfire of driftwood. Here they sat
talking of the warm countries they would sail past for two months. They
were only a few miles from the easternmost extremity of Asia at Behring
Strait.

The _Vega_ had anchored on the eastern side of Koliuchin Bay. It was
September 28. Newly formed ice had stretched a tough sheet between the
scattered blocks of ground ice, and to the east lay an ice-belt barely
six miles broad. If only a south wind would spring up, the pack would
drift northwards, and the last short bit of the north-east passage would
be traversed.

But the Fates decreed otherwise. No wind appeared, the temperature fell,
and the ice increased in thickness. If the _Vega_ had come a few hours
sooner, she would not have been stopped on the very threshold of the
Pacific Ocean. And how easily might these few hours have been saved
during the voyage! The _Vega_ was entrapped so unexpectedly in the ice
that there was not even time to look for safe and sheltered winter
quarters. She lay about a mile from the coast exposed to the northern
storms. Under strong ice pressure she might easily drift southwards, run
aground, capsize, or be crushed.

The ice-pack became heavier in all directions, and by October 10 the
Chukchis were able to come out on foot to the vessel. Preparations were
made for the winter. High banks of snow were thrown up around, and on
the deck a thick layer of snow was left to keep the heat in. From the
bridge to the bow was stretched a large awning, under which the Chukchis
were received daily. It was like a market-place, and here barter trade
was carried on. A collection of household utensils, implements of the
chase, clothes, and indeed everything which the northern people made
with their own hands, was acquired during the winter.

The _Vega_ soon became quite a rendezvous for the three hundred Chukchis
living in the neighbourhood, and one team of dogs after another came
daily rushing through the snow. They had small, light sledges drawn by
six to ten dogs, shaggy and strong, but thin and hungry. The dogs had to
lie waiting in the snow on the ice while their masters sat bargaining
under the large awning. At every baking on board special loaves were
made for the native visitors, who would sit by the hour watching the
smith shaping the white hot iron on his anvil. Women and children were
regaled with sugar and cakes, and all the visitors went round and looked
about just as they liked on the deck, where a quantity of articles,
weapons, and utensils lay about. Not the smallest trifle disappeared.
The Chukchis were honest and decent people, and the only roguery they
permitted themselves was to try and persuade the men of the _Vega_ that
a skinned and decapitated fox was a hare. When it grew dusk the fur-clad
Polar savages went down the staircase of ice from the deck, put their
teams in order, took their seats in the sledges, and set off again over
the ice to their tents of reindeer skins.

The winter was stormy and severe. Clouds of snow swept over the ice,
fine and dry as flour. Again and again the cold scene was lighted up by
the arcs of the aurora. In the middle of December the planks in the
sides of the _Vega_ cracked as the ice pressed against her. If the
pressure had been bad, the vessel might have been broken to pieces and
have sunk in a few minutes. It would not have been so serious for the
crew as in the case of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, for here there were
people far and near. But to ensure a safe retreat, the men of the _Vega_
carried to the nearest shore provisions, guns, and ammunition to last a
hundred men for thirty days. These things were all stacked up into a
heap covered with sails and oars. No watch was kept at the depot, and
though the Chukchis knew that valuable goods lay under the sails, they
never touched a thing.

Near the _Vega_ two holes were kept always open. In one the captain
observed the rise and fall of the tide; the other was for water in case
of fire. A small seal splashed for a long time in one of the holes and
came up on to the ice after fishing below. One day his retreat was cut
off and he was caught and brought up on deck. When fish bought from the
Chukchis had been offered him in vain, he was let loose in the hole
again and he never came back.

A house of ice was erected for the purpose of observing the wind and
weather, and a thermometer cage was set up on the coast. Men took turns
to go out, and each observer remained six hours at the ice-house and the
cage to read off the various instruments. It was bitterly cold going out
when the temperature fell to-51 deg., but the compulsory walk was
beneficial. One danger was that a man might lose his way when snowstorms
raged in the dark winter nights, so a line was stretched the whole way,
supported on posts of ice, and with this guide it was impossible to go
astray.

Then came Christmas, when they slaughtered two fat pigs which had been
brought on purpose. The middle deck was swept out, all the litter was
cleared away, and flags were hung round the walls and ceiling. The
Chukchis brought willow bushes from the valleys beyond the mountains to
the south, and branches were fastened round a trunk of driftwood. This
was the _Vega's_ Christmas tree, and it was decked with strips of
coloured paper and small wax candles. Officers and men swung round in
merry dance beneath flaming lanterns suspended from the roof. Two
hundred Christmas boxes were found packed on board, parting gifts of
friends and acquaintances. For these lots were drawn, and many amusing
surprises excited general hilarity. So the polka was danced on the deck,
while cold reigned outside and snow whizzed through the frozen rigging.
For supper there was ham and Christmas ale, just as at home in Sweden.
Old well-known songs echoed through the saloon, and toasts were given of
king and country, officers and men, and the fine little vessel which had
carried our Vikings from their home in the west to their captivity in
the shore ice of Siberia.

The winter ran its course and the days lengthened in the spring. Cold
and continual storms were persistent. Even a Chukchi dog can have too
much of them. One day at the end of February a Chukchi who had lost his
way came on board, carrying a dog by the hind legs. The man had lost his
way on the ice, and had slept out in the cold with his dog. A capital
dinner was served for him on the middle deck, and the dog was rolled
about and pommelled till he came to life again.

During the spring the _Vega_ explorers made several longer or shorter
excursions with dog sledges and visited all the villages in the country.
Of course they became the best of friends with the Chukchis. The
language was the difficulty at first, but somehow or other they learned
enough of it to make themselves understood. Even the sailors struggled
with the Chukchi vocabulary, and tried to teach their savage friends
Swedish. One of the officers learned to speak Chukchi fluently, and
compiled a dictionary of this peculiar language.

Summer came on, but the ground was not free from ice until July. The
_Vega_ still lay fast as in a vice. On July 18 Nordenskioeld made ready
for another excursion on land. The captain had long had the engines
ready and the boilers cleaned. Just as they were sitting at dinner in
the ward-room they felt the _Vega_ roll a little. The captain rushed up
on deck. The pack had broken up and left a free passage open. "Fire
under the boilers!" was the order, and two hours later, at half-past
three o'clock, the _Vega_ glided under steam and sail and a festoon of
flags away from the home of the Chukchis.

Farther east the sea was like a mirror and free of ice beneath the fog.
Walruses raised their shiny wet heads above the water, in which numerous
seals disported themselves. With the wildest delight the _Vega_
expedition sailed southwards through Behring Strait. In the year 1553 a
daring Englishman had commenced the quest of the north-east passage and
had perished with all his men, and during the following centuries
numberless other expeditions had tried to solve the problem, but always
in vain; now it was solved by Swedes. The vessel glided out into the
Pacific Ocean without a leak; not a man had been lost and not one had
been seriously ill. It was one of the most fortunate and most brilliant
Polar voyages that had ever been achieved.

Yokohama was the first port, where the _Vega_ was welcomed with immense
jubilation, and then the homeward journey _via_ the Suez Canal and
Gibraltar became a continuous triumphal procession.


NANSEN

From many signs around the northern cap of the world a young Norwegian,
Fridtjof Nansen, came to the conclusion that a constant current must
flow from the neighbourhood of Behring Strait to the east coast of
Greenland.

Nansen resolved to make use of this current. Others had gone up from the
Atlantic side and been driven back by the current. He would start from
the opposite side and get the help of the current. Others had feared and
avoided the pack-ice. He would make for it and allow himself to be
caught in it. Others had sailed in unsuitable vessels which had been
crushed like nut-shells among the floes. He would build a vessel with
sides sloping inwards which would afford no hold to the ice. The more
the ice pressed the more surely would this ship be lifted up out of the
water and be borne safely on the ice with the current.

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